NCAA Tourney report 1

Since I'm one of the few people lower in the Tourney Pick-Em standings than he is, Wood has assigned me NCAA Tourney roundup duty. Also because I don't have a job and can watch all of it. OK, games 1 and 2:

— Davidson is obviously the story of the tourney so far, with Stephen Curry droppin' threes like Wood drops Phantoms t-shirts fired into the crowd. They next have a tough matchup with Wisconsin with their corn-fed inside guys, low scoring and shutdown defenders, but Davidson's more than one guy. Their point guard and center are playing really well. If their inside guys stay out of foul trouble, and Curry and crew hit enough threes, Davidson can advance.

— Neither Davidson nor Western Kentucky might make the Final Four, but their Sweet 16 presence is no fluke. Stars continuing to leave big programs after only one or two years means more opportunities for teams that gel over four years. Mix in guys who slip through the recruiting cracks like Curry, and you have top-20 teams from mid-majors, every year. Don't know if David Stern's new draft status proposals will affect things if approved, but as is the trend will continue. You just can't pick all the mid-major teams for upsets in round 1, like me. I forget that every year.

— North Carolina and Kansas have looked like the class of the field so far. Fellow 1 seeds Memphis and UCLA had close calls in game 2, with UCLA again benefiting from a lousy call. Louisville's quietly been dominant as well, and may be under everyone's radar at this point.

— Villanova barely got in the tourney but has played great, much better than Temple and St. Joe's. Tough, tough matchup with Kansas, but they do have good guard play and experience inside. Stay close, see what happens. Wood notes Jay Wright has a fake tan. Weak indeed.

— Duke lost. LOL.

— Scottie Reynolds is rocking old-school Air Jordans.

— Am I crazy to think every single lower seed can win Thursday and Friday (with Nova likely being the longest shot)?

The Flyers win a shootout!

But it's still the worst idea in sports. It's possibly even worse than the worst of all time, the "in the crease" rule. How about making the nets bigger for the hat trick Bettman?

Because I hate the shootout so much I'll repeat why:

Hockey is a team sport and shootouts have no business deciding team sports. Do you see 3 point competitions deciding games in basketball? Do you have field goal kicking contests or passing accuracy competitions deciding football games? No, of course not. They are skills competitions and gimmicks best viewed once a year on Day 1 of all-star weekends or as summer programming filler.

Teams such as Edmonton, who are mediocre at the actual game, have exploited the shootout to get points they don't deserve. Goalies such as Marty Brodeur have exploited the shootout to get records they don't deserve. Did the Flyers deserve to "win" that game last night after blowing 2-0 and 3-2 leads late in the third?

And the worst argument for the shootout is "nobody leaves". If it's so exciting why not have everyone on the team shoot instead of just 3 a side? The reason no one leaves is because people want to know who is going to be given the extra point, aka "winning the game", not because they love the shootout.

.500 baby

Man, that was a good game. A.I. back in town for the first time, greeted by a huge ovation. Sixers and Nuggets trading lead back and forth. Not a lot of defense, but crazy passes and shots being made. A.I. putting on a show, Andre Miller putting on a better one. Bodies flying through the air and slamming. A late-game make for the Sixers, late-game misses for A.I. and the Nuggets. About as good as it gets in the regular season.

But now to the real issue. With that facial hair, Reggie Evans is really starting to look like Kimbo Slice.

Tournament Time

Deadline to make picks is the first game of Round 1 on Thursday, March 20th.

The Flyers are almost dead, the Sixers are winning(?) but have no shot in the playoffs, the mediocre Eagles are barely treading water, and the Phillies are getting destroyed in every grapefruit league game they play. So don't miss your chance to distract yourself from the perpetual misery of Philadelphia sports by rooting for teams from other parts of the country that you've never cared about and probably never will again. Go Belmont!

Once again I set up "team" willweeverwin over at Yahoo! First go to Yahoo's Tournament Pick'em page and click "Join a Group". If you have a Yahoo ID, login. If not, follow the instructions and get one. Once logged in, choose "Join Private".

Group ID#: 84343
Pass: (erased - you remember it right?)

Where it says "Bracket Name" is where you would put your name. I cleverly put "ron". Then make your picks by the first game on Thursday, March 20. To keep track of your picks you can download the custom willweeverwin NCAA bracket PDF.

And like I said last year, the year before that, and the year before that etc., because I'm too lazy to come up with something new, the willweeverwin winner will experience the rare feeling of being a champion. Savor it. Because you won't get that from a Philadelphia team.

Game of the Weak

7-1? Even more pathetic than before. The lone highlight of this game was Cote drilling some chump on the Penguins and then taking out Malone and his pathetic attempt at rescuing the damsel in distress. Richards did the exact same thing later in the game and inexplicably drew a charging minor and a game misconduct. Refs, you never fail to suck. Flyers however sucked the most.

So is there any light at the bottom of the toilet*? Will they make the playoffs? Here is their remaining 9 games:

Thrashers
Rangers
Islanders
@ Rangers
@ Devils
@ Islanders
@ Penguins
Devils
Pittsburgh

I see them winning 3 of these games at the most. So the answer is no, they won't make the playoffs.

*The toilet picture was taken when a beam of sunlight shone perfectly into the bowl, creating the appearance of it being illuminated from inside. It only happens at noon around August 12th, which is really close to the halfway point of summer. It's just like the Winter Solstice at Newgrange, but more impressive.

Flyers are

Seriously, how do you lose that game?

"So good" to "pathetic" just like that.

So good

The best is around the 55 second mark where Roy is grabbing ahold of Cote's leg struggling to figure out where he is.

Also, the reason Roy was hysterical (in the old sense of the word) on the bench in the third was because the Flyers chose him getting his ass knocked out as the check of the game and were replaying it over and over on the big video screen and the Flyers bench was laughing at him.

Oh, the game... Jeff Carter and the Flyers got a lucky goal and won the game late in the third and ended the Lightning's 7 game winning streak in Philadelphia.

The refs suck

Just like John Stevens said.

“[It] was a four-on-four, and their fifth guy was the guy at the far blue line. It’s unbelievable,” said Stevens. “They had five guys on the ice by 60 feet. The [referees] totally missed the call.

So instead of a too many men penalty the Sabres score a goal on the cheating assisted breakaway and another goal a few seconds later when they should have been playing shorthanded. But it's ok refs, the Flyers have points to spare and are a lock for a playoff spot.

Randy Moss, yeah right

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but I don't believe the story that's out there saying that the Eagles outbid the Patriots for Randy Moss and lost. Since when does that happen in pro sports? Case in point, Samuel and his laughable press conference lines of "I just want a chance to be able to win and get back to the Super Bowl. That's why I picked the Philadelphia Eagles." I guess $10 million a year had nothing to do with it. Or did I miss it that Randy Moss has suddenly started caring for something other than himself?

Note that there is a complete lack of details of how much "more" the Eagles supposedly offered. Moss got a 3 year, $27 million deal with a $12 million signing bonus and $15 million guaranteed. Maybe the Eagles offered $27 million and 5 cents, or a backloaded 5 year deal worth $50 million knowing they'd cut him after 2 or 3 years, or a deal with a lot of incentives that he would only reach if Tom Brady was the QB and not McNabb. I'd really like to know what was offered and refused.

Basically I'm calling shenanigans because I don't think the Eagles had any real intention of bringing in Randy Moss and paying him that much money, but they can sure benefit by appearing to have made an effort to bring him in. When we're watching the same bunch of mediocrities next season not getting open, dropping passes. and getting dropped the second they catch it, the Eagles braintrust hopes that instead of cursing their names we say, "Well, they did try and sign Moss... even offered him more money than the Patriots and he refused it!"

I'm probably wrong but hey, the Eagles have conditioned me to respond this way. It's their fault.

Slamball to Return.

Noted pirate enthusiast and miniature golf entrepreneur, Pat Croce, still feels great about Slamball, the sport of the future that disappeared from Spike TV in lieu of Pros vs Joes and hours upon hours of UFC programming. Now some fools from IMG agree with the extreme goateed motivator, and Slamball lives!

Slamball, played on trampolines set up on a basketball court, will hire players who "have basketball awareness and the mentality of a football quarterback or linebacker," Croce says. Tryouts will begin soon - dates to be announced - and IMG will host a training camp at its Florida facility for 120 players, of which 64 will be divided into eight teams. They hope to shoot a season this summer.

Watch this great video for more information.